With the advent of the Internet and a decline in computer prices, many people are communicating with one another through computers interconnected by networks. A number of different communications programs have been developed to facilitate such communications between computer users. One type of communication program is the instant messaging (IM) client program. IM client programs typically have a user interface that presents representations of a user's selected buddies (i.e., other users of the instant messaging program selected by the user). When a buddy's IM client program is connected to the network and the buddy is available, a user may communicate or interact with the buddy (and other users) using the instant messaging program. For example, the user may use the IM client program to engage in a real-time textual messaging session with the buddy.
At times, a user may be away from his or her computer or otherwise unavailable to engage in communications with a buddy, even though his or her IM client program is connected to the network or otherwise available for communications. In such a situation, a user typically is considered to be “away.” Some IM client programs allow users to configure a preset and global “away message” that is sent as a textual message to any buddy that attempts to message the user while the user's IM client program is configured in an away mode.
Another type of communication program is the electronic mail (e-mail) client program. An e-mail client program allows a user to compose a message (which is often text, but may also include multimedia features such as sound, video, and pictures) and send that message to another e-mail user at a different computer.
Similar to IM communications, there are times when an intended e-mail recipient is unavailable for e-mail communications. For example, an e-mail user may be on vacation for an extended period of time and, consequently, unable to get to a computer to check e-mail. Particularly because of such situations, some e-mail client programs (either on their own, or in cooperation with an e-mail server) allow an e-mail user to set up auto-reply e-mails and configure the e-mail client program (or e-mail server, depending on implementation) to operate in an auto-reply mode. An auto-reply e-mail is one that is automatically sent to an e-mail user in response to receiving an e-mail from that user. By way of example, the e-mail user who is on vacation may set up an auto-reply message that includes the message “I am on vacation for the week.” When the e-mail client program or server is configured to be in an auto-reply mode and another user (the sending user) sends an e-mail to the vacationing e-mail user (the intended recipient), a reply e-mail is automatically sent to the sending user with the message “I am on vacation for the week.”